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MTS · 3 min · Sep 17, 2026

Pausing AI progress hands an advantage to rivals

Jared Isaacman argues against stopping AI development and suggests space data centers could address objections to terrestrial ones. He also explains why NASA pursues exploration rather than building commercial markets.

Jared Isaacman

Jared Isaacman is an NASA administrator.

Commanded Inspiration4, the first all-civilian orbital flight, and founded Shift4 payments; now runs NASA.

  • Theo Jaffee, Host · Co-founder & host, MTS

    One of the first members of a16z's new media team; earlier hosted the Emergent Ventures-backed Theo Jaffee Podcast.

  • Sophia Dew, Host · Host, MTS

About this segment

Jared Isaacman argues against stopping AI development and suggests space data centers could address objections to terrestrial ones. He also explains why NASA pursues exploration rather than building commercial markets.

From “NASA Chief: How To Reach Another Star System | Jared Isaacman”, Sep 17, 2026. Watch the full episode

“hitting the pause button on progress and hoping our rivals will somehow look favorably on us if they get to a superior capability is not a wise strategy.”
Jared Isaacmanat 9:56 · MTS9:56

Takeaways

  1. He argues rivals will keep advancing even if the U.S. pauses.
  2. Orbital data centers could be one use of commercial space infrastructure.
  3. NASA prioritizes discovery, while companies pursue economic returns.

In this episode

Full episode
  1. 5:09The Moon is a proving ground for Mars and interstellar travel2:55

  2. 8:49Pausing AI progress hands an advantage to rivals3:04

  3. 15:31Nuclear power helps spacecraft work far from the Sun3:01Up next
  4. 2 more moments in the full episode

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

  1. 9:02

    Well, I think there's storytelling. And like I said, you know, what we do at NASA is always a very good story, right? Unlock the secrets of the universe. Answer the questions. Are we alone? You know, put hero astronauts into space. Put them on the moon. Build a moon base. AI is going to play a role in a lot of that. You know, we talk about the potential of AI. Yes, there's this whole Doomer thing of where it sends us down a really poor path.

  2. 9:24

    There is the whole optimist side of this, which is it has the potential to elevate and transform civilizations, right? Now, the worst thing we can possibly do in all of it is to say, let's just stop and trust that our rivals in this great power competition are going to somehow wield this technology better than us. So for better or worse, you're not putting the genie back in the bottle. If you don't like data centers in your backyard, fine, let's put them in space.

  3. 9:50

    You know, the physics is not broken there on that. There are certainly some economic challenges to make it viable, but do that. We'll put them in space. That's great. Orbital economy, good thing. But, you know, if you care, you know, about this potential, you know, from what this technology can yield, then you're going to want to continue investing in it. Because, again, hitting the pause button on progress and hoping our rivals will somehow look favorably on us if they get to a superior capability is not a wise strategy.

  4. 10:17

    How is NASA thinking about the orbital economy? We talk to founders all the time and sort of in the SF sphere about orbital compute. But how are you guys thinking about it on the NASA side? Yeah, I would just say, generally speaking, like I love this whole commercial space industry that's emerging right now. And there's a lot of areas that can help us. Generally, what we work on does not have a good, you know, business case to to support it.

  5. 10:40

    We should be doing the most wild, near impossible things to open up new frontiers. And along the way, if you can create, there's economic potential from your effort, fantastic. Launch observation and communications, no question, real markets for it. NASA's one customer of many, thriving commercial industry we can benefit from. Well, launch companies can look to extensions of that and say, well, I'm already really good at launch.

  6. 11:04

    I'm already good at communications. Now I want to put compute on orbit. And I think being vertically integrated advantages them in that regard. And if it works out, fantastic. You know, we're not part of the Department of Commerce. We're not always trying to go out and enable these things, you know, enable, you know, economies around us. We want to, again, go and discover things, what might be in our own backyard in our solar system.

  7. 11:24

    But along the way, if opening a new frontier, there's economic potential. Fantastic. We're putting lots of landers on the moon. I can't guarantee you can get more value out of the lunar regolith than all the cost of being there and refining it. But we'll put a demand signal out because we need to build a moon base. And if along the way, there's a lunar economy, fantastic. Yeah. I'm also curious, what are your timelines for lunar industrial base?